


After

by DrabblingSparks (ingenious_spark)



Series: Ficlet February 2021 [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Drabble, Kinda, Long Live Feedback Comment Project, M/M, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Prompt Fic, brief cameo by: katsuya suou, give ur grumpy cat not-bf hugs, new identity who dis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:13:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29143524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ingenious_spark/pseuds/DrabblingSparks
Summary: Akechi Goro attempts to live his life in peace, after everything has happened.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: Ficlet February 2021 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139036
Comments: 9
Kudos: 42
Collections: February Ficlet Challenge 2021: Apocalypse No





	After

**Author's Note:**

> His name will always be Akira Kurusu to me, no I do not take constructive criticism on that point.

Akechi Goro, now living under an assumed name, never expected to see the Phantom Thieves ever again. He's taken great pains to reinvent himself as a person: styling his hair completely differently, shaving the underside while keeping the top artfully ruffled and wavy, but not as long as his previous cut, so it frames his face differently. He's affected a thin, rectangular pair of reading glasses with a delicate silver rim. He dresses completely differently, soft jeans in place of the slacks he'd habitually worn, and hooded sweatshirts over the least offensive graphic tees he could find. Mostly Featherman ones, he admits, because they're the only ones he tolerates. Sometimes he can even wear some kind of button down shirt, though by necessity it must be a colorful or a monochrome plaid. He wears sneakers or combat boots, and no longer wears gloves. He permits himself to be the horrible, abrasive person he's never allowed himself to be in public except for that hellish time fighting Maruki with only Kurusu and the Yoshizawa girl.

It's honestly quite freeing, though the complete style change takes a while to get used to. He keeps attempting to adjust a tie he no longer wears. Luckily all his classmates at University just assume it's the lack of a school uniform he's adjusting to. He hates that Kurusu is the one to have opened his eyes to how such little changes to his personal appearance make him so unrecognizable. Still, no one makes the connection between him and the TV personality of the missing, presumed dead teen detective. He likes to that way, settles into his new lufe in something alarmingly close to comfort, Loki's voice murmuring amusibg quips in the back of his mind that he no longer has to censor himself from saying aloud. People find him funny, somehow.

Maybe that's why it's such a shock to be walking on campus and to see a horrifyingly familiar head of wavy black hair atop a long, lanky frame. Kurusu is in casual clothes, standing beside a tall man in a suit, with brown hair and sunglasses. Goro sits down on a bench nearby and takes out one of the books for his classes, flipping up his hood as if chilled by the early autumn breeze. They walk his way, and Goro's heartbeat is practically buzzing in his ears. 

"...don't see why your father couldn't have dropped you off with Baofu." The older man is saying as they come into earshot. 

"Uncle Katsu! You know Papa's got that wedding he's doing, he's even roped Dad into it!" Kurusu's laugh is soft, his smile coming more freely and wider than it ever has, to Goro's memory. 

"Why aren't you also helping, then?" The older man, 'Uncle Katsu', asks in a faux-aggrieved tone. Goro comes to the horrible, correct conclusion that somehow he's ended up _in the city that Kurusu is from,_ and winds up missing the rest of the conversation like a fucking _novice_.

Goro drifts through the rest of his day in a vague, horrified haze. Which is probably how he ends up getting made, walking to where his obnoxiously lime green bicycle is chained up. He's tired, and pauses to take off his glasses and rub his eyes, grumbling internally to Loki, who's been laughing at him the whole day. 

The impact of a body to the back, arms wrapping securely around his torso makes him drop his glasses and reach for the gun he no longer carries, traded out for more easily concealed knives. His second instinct is to cuss out his attacker viciously and loudly. That's met with soft laughter, a face tucking close to his neck, the thick frames of glasses digging awkwardly into the spot below his ear. 

"It _is_ you. I knew you were too stubborn to die, Goro."

**Author's Note:**

> Goro, immediately: who tf gave u permission to call me that  
> Akira: :3c  
> Goro: fuck I just gave myself away
> 
> Yes that is Katsuya Suou from P2:EP, and yes, this means that Dad is Tatsuya Suou. Papa is Jun Kurosu/Kashihara, and this may indeed be a kind of sneaky peek at a larger story that I've been working on! 
> 
> This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * Constructive criticism
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
>   * Comments not in English
> 

> 
> LLF Comment Builder
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> This author replies to comments. It might take a few days/weeks depending on how busy I am, but you will receive a reply. If you don’t want a reply, for any reason, feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will respond only with an emoji! I will respond only because I have some compulsive tendencies towards replying to comments.


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